


My Babysitter's a Vampire: Rory's Dinner Date

by Leviisthesexiestheichou



Series: My Babysitter's a Vampire [2]
Category: My Babysitter's A Vampire
Genre: Benny weir - Freeform, Erica - Freeform, Ethan - Freeform, Ethan Morgan - Freeform, F/M, Friendship, Gay, Gay tension, Love, M/M, My Babysitter's A Vampire - Freeform, Romance, Rory Kearner, Sarah - Freeform, Seer, Seers, Valentine's Day, Vampire Love, Vampires, Warlocks, Werewolf, Werewolves, Wizards, benny - Freeform, erica jones - Freeform, gay kiss, rory - Freeform, sarah fox - Freeform, valentines day, vampire, vampire romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22363444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leviisthesexiestheichou/pseuds/Leviisthesexiestheichou
Summary: A year has passed since Benny accidentally used a love spell on Ethan on Valentine's Day.  Though Ethan and Benny are through with Valentine's Day this year, their school and Rory sure aren't!  When Rory introduces his Valentine, Greta, to his friends, they get a weird suspicion about her.  Ethan finds out her secret and takes action.  Meanwhile, Ethan is also dealing with the emotional turmoil revolving last years events.  Will Ethan and Benny be okay?  What is up with Rory's date?
Relationships: Ethan Morgan/Benny Weir
Series: My Babysitter's a Vampire [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617991
Comments: 23
Kudos: 48





	1. Valentine's Day Again

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a story last year titled, "My Babysitter's a Vampire: Love is in the Air", where Benny casted a love spell on Ethan by accident. Though not entirely necessary, I recommend reading it to fully understand the depth of Ethan's emotional turmoil throughout this story. 
> 
> There will be 10 chapters of this story, and I will be uploading chapters every other day, except for the weekends. However, the last chapter of this story will be posted on Valentine's Day. If you like the story and want to read for a conclusion, I recommend bookmarking so that archiveofourown can email you when I upload the last chapter. 
> 
> I just realized this entire thing seems like I'm attempting to plug, but in actuality I genuinely just want to make sure you know what is going on. Haha. Of course there is no pressure to read or bookmark. <3 Enjoy the story and take care loves!

"This is not a Valentine's Day song,  
no ordinary one!  
You said that you loved me,  
guess that you were wrong!  
Now I'm torn apart.  
Forget about the roses and the hearts and the peace doves.  
this ain't no Valentine's day song!"

February fourteenth managed to circle around again, much to Ethan's dismay. He blasted Madina Break's latest tune in hopes of coping with his anger for this wretched day. Miserably, he sat in the backseat of his mom's car and extended the volume of his ear-piercing music. The pain was much better than the cheesy love song his mom was currently playing. Who cares if Selena Gomez 'loves you like a love song'? Ethan didn't want anything to do with love songs, especially today. 

In retrospect, this cavity-inducing holiday wasn't terrible until last year. Ethan never celebrated the day, but he didn't dread it. It was funny to watch Benny attempt to get a girlfriend year after year. It was a ritual to listen to Benny talk himself up about a girl he liked, watch him approach her, get majorly rejected, and come back for Ethan to awkwardly comfort his defeated friend. This was all before Benny knew magic existed in his impulsive hands.

Ethan's heart sank and his stomach churned as he thought of the events that unfolded during the course of those few days. One year ago, Benny decided to use a spell to seduce a girl for Valentine's Day. Instead, he ended up casting the spell on Ethan. Ethan was hopelessly in love with him for a few days, and the rest of the school was under the spell too! Benny ended up saving the school after kissing Ethan. 

Everyone else seemed to be fine since that day, everyone but Ethan. Ethan couldn't stop thinking about how he felt for a few months. Though he knew that he didn't see Benny that way, the remembrance that he had left quite an unusual scar. The subtlest brush of the hand against his side or smallest compliment made Ethan feel like he needed to push Benny away before the feelings came flooding back. What if Ethan suddenly had those feelings for real all because he had once felt that way due to some stupid spell? It would ruin their friendship forever. His image of Benny would be ruined forever. He had gotten over most it in the course of a year; but now that Valentine's Day was back, it was echoing in his brain once again.

After an agonizingly long car ride, Ethan stormed into school with his music now blasting "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance and did his best to avoid reading the corny love poems plastered on every wall and red or pink hearts stamped on the lockers. A plum locker was approached and violently torn open. Too in his own head, it took five taps on his shoulder before he realized someone was trying to get his attention. Ethan ripped an earbud out and turned around to face a concerned Benny.

"You okay there, bud?" Benny asked, looking around to find clues of his friend's off behavior. 

Benny assumed that Ethan's rock music had something to do with the special occasion that happened that prior Valentine's Day. Each day, he felt guilty that he had placed such stress on his friend just so he could take some cute girl to the dance. She was really pretty, actually, but not worth the pain he'd caused Ethan. Aware of his anxiety to some extent, Benny was careful with the signals that he sent out to Ethan. He didn't want to lose Ethan by making him uncomfortable. It was disappointing though, having to tip toe around their interactions from time to time. But it was his fault and he needed to take accountability for his foolish actions.

"Oh, yeah. I'm just jamming to some tunes," Ethan said weirdly, turning off his music and placing his earbuds in his backpack. A few books were grabbed quickly and soon Ethan was fully focused on Benny.

"Alright...You going to that festival thing this year?" Benny had been putting the question aside for a while, unsure when he should bring up Valentine's Day topics since his friend seemed sensitive to the subject. 

"You mean that stupid Valentine's festival the school is hosting? No," Ethan said adamantly, never once considering the notion of stepping foot on school property when his last class finished.

Ethan wanted to forget that Valentine's Day even existed. With the school hosting some huge event, couples everywhere, and posters about a festival; however, it was near impossible to ignore. The best thing to do was not think about it. There weren't any plans made because this year was going to be different. Valentine's Day would be just like any other day to Ethan. Roses, love, hearts, candy, and the color red didn't enter his mind once.

"Me neither, I'm just checking," Benny said casually. He didn't want to try for a date this year. Well...he did, but Ethan was slightly more important to him all things considering. 

"You heard right folks; I have a date tonight!" Rory announced to his 'crew'.

Ethan and Benny turned their attention to the blonde kid shouting about things they didn't understand. Most of the time, Rory didn't even know what he was saying.

"Really? You don't seem like the type girls would say 'yes' to," Benny said confused. It pinched him, a little, that Rory was able to successfully snag someone, and he couldn't even get a girl through a spell. He got Ethan, if that counted.

"That's cuz you haven't seen the hidden powers the 'Rorster' has. Maybe you should take notes," Rory said smoothly.

Rory was too proud of himself that he had finally convinced some poor soul to date him. The only girlfriend he had had before was that crazy Barbie doll that came to life, and she was not a cute chick with half her face ripped off. Finding a meal was a hindrance for this reason, but Rory always managed his way around things. And this girl was not food this time. She was a living, breathing babe that was totally into him for his sexy voice and muscles.

"Do we know her?" Ethan asked curiously. He filed back in his mind for a face to put to that would go out with Rory. Maybe someone was pulling a cruel joke on him.

"You've seen her around. She's in my history class," Rory said.

"Yeah? What's her name?" Benny challenged. There was no freaking way that Rory had a date. He had to be bluffing. Perhaps he was delusional and mistook a rejection for acceptance. That's happened plenty.

"Greta," Rory said with a smile beaming.

"Pfft. Greta? You expect me to be impressed with you when you pulled a girl with a name like that?" Benny laughed harder than he should. Ethan didn't look impressed at the remark.

"What's wrong with the name Greta? Benny isn't any better," Ethan retorted. He could sense himself distancing from Benny already, trying not to fall in love with those chocolate eyes.

It was easier to push someone away than to allow them to be close to you. Ethan needed his space emotionally. If his emotional bubble wasn't popped, then there wouldn't be any concerns to attend to. Benny might be confused a bit, but he put himself in the situation in the first place. Ethan didn't even condone that darn spell! He got everything that was coming to him.

"I'll have you know that Benny is a very charming name! It is short for the fanciest name of all time, 'Benjamin'," Benny said defensively, frowning at Ethan.

"How peculiar considering that's the opposite of you," Ethan said. Rory gulped and attempted to diffuse the situation.

"Anyway, you'll see her today at lunch. She's a total babe," Rory assured them, leaning against the lockers coolly as he thought back to her beautiful lips.

"I'm sure she is dude," Benny said sarcastically.

"Well I'm gonna go fang out with Greta before class, lates!" Rory said with finger guns pointed to the two clowns.

"Can you believe him? How can Rory get a date? I didn't think that was scientifically possible," Benny said in disbelief. 

"I guess you did the math wrong," Ethan said. 

Ethan didn't care if Rory was dating or not. Curious, but he didn't care. It didn't affect his life, and he had worse things to worry about. He wished that he could worry about something so benign. Instead, he was pretty sure he was stuck with PTSD. Thanks, Benny.

"She has to be weird looking or has some creepy obsession. There's no way a normal girl would fall for Rory," Benny continued.

"Can we stop obsessing over some girl we haven't even met?" Ethan asked sharply.

"Right...Hey, so I was thinking I could hang out and play video games at your place tonight," Benny said with hope.

Benny didn't want to overstep boundaries, but a little hangout was harmless. They played video games together often, so it wasn't as if there had to be a special occasion attached to it just because of what holiday it was. He would make sure to sit three feet away from Ethan or possibly on the floor. As long as they weren't touching and he made at least ten crude jokes about the girls in the games, they'd be fine. Right?

Ethan preferred to be home alone if he were to be honest. Coping with this odd feeling in his chest was personal to him. He'd rather lay in bed and listen to rock songs. Or he could play video games by himself. But he couldn't reject his friend.

"Uh, sure. I gotta ask my parents first," Ethan said, contemplating if he should use them as an excuse to get out of 'hanging with Benny' night.

"Since when do you need to ask them?" Benny said.

"In case they have some date night planned or something," Ethan lied.

Benny could tell something was up, but dropped the issue for another time. He was hurt. He didn't understand why Ethan couldn't feel comfortable playing a video game with him. He wasn't in Ethan's shoes, though, and it wasn't fair to judge him or be angry when he didn't fully know what was going on in his head. He might've acted the same way if the roles were reversed.

"Okay," Benny said. Perhaps he should try to cheer him up throughout the day. Yeah, that's what he'll do.


	2. Erica's Idea

Brushing the golden yarn attached to her head, Erica stared at her hair and inspected each possible cluster of hair that needed to be aligned. Today was the famous day where people hooked up and asked out their biggest crush in hopes that the feelings were mutual. She had to look perfect for the entire day in case Erastus so much as glanced her way. He needed to be aware of the exhilarating beauty that he could be linked with if he just said 'yes'. It would be impossible for him to reject her when she was flawless. Most would kill for a chance to take her out. The games he was playing were getting old, and Erica was exhausted from the agonizing length of time she spent waiting for him. 

"Do you think I should wear a leather or cotton jacket tonight?" Erica asked, ruminating about which one was sexier. The leather jacket gave off the "I'm too cool for you" vibes whereas the cotton jacket showed that she didn't put too much effort into her looks and still managed to look amazing. It was mostly dependent on what Erastus preferred, but it was difficult to calculate considering she didn't know him well. What was the beauty standard in Greece anyway?

"That depends. Is this for outside or indoors?" Sarah questioned. She popped her locker open and stared at the mirror. Much to her expected dismay, there was no reflection in sight.

After over a year of being a vampire, one would think that Sarah would be used to it by now. Unfortunately, she wasn't. Chasing around animal scraps and keeping yourself from temptation was the hardest experience of her life. And now she was going to be living this horrible existence for eternity. Just the thought that she wasn't going to grow old was still impossible to wrap her head around. That one stupid bite from that one stupid boyfriend made her accidentally say good-bye to any chance of having a normal future with children and grandchildren. Instead, she was to relive her teenage years forever and watch as the people she cared for died century after century.

"Hm, leather it is," Erica decided. Practically, cotton made more sense. Still, the idea of Erastus viewing her as sexy was too good of an opportunity to pass up!

"What is this for anyway?" Sarah asked, closing her locker and scanning her friend who was trying her best to put on lipstick without being able to see herself. Putting makeup on yourself when you couldn't see your reflection was similar to a blind person putting on their makeup. The only difference was that vampires could see the colors they were using and blind people can't. Sarah wondered if she'd forget what she looked like after hundreds of years of not seeing her own face. Probably.

"The Valentine festival tonight! We're going to be face painting," Erica said with a rise of excitement in her voice. She shoved the lipstick in the back of her jean pocket and grinned at her quizzical companion.

"Wait, we?" Sarah asked. Today was full of questions. Why did Erica say 'we'? Sarah never signed herself up for anything. In fact, she was looking forward to the time she would have alone. She'd watch a Dusk movie and eat a bunch of ice cream, then wait for Erica to come crawling back from an awful date and complain about how the guy was a total tool. She was not expecting to be surrounded by a loud event and people spending money on borderline illegally overpriced games and rides.

"Yes, we. I signed us up," Erica said, elbowing her friend and flipping her own hair with sass.

"Why would you do that? What if I had a date?" Sarah said annoyed. Both of them knew she didn't have any plans, but it was still rude of Erica to make plans for her without her permission. Plus, they both knew that Sarah was never one to volunteer for anything. Come to think of it, neither was Erica.

"You never have a date on Valentine's Day. Besides, I need a wing-woman," Erica said, hinting to her bestie why she would do something so sneaky.

"Don't tell me you're still pining for Erastus," Sarah moaned.

It had been a year since Erica had last hit on Erastus. Ever since then, Erastus has been giving her weird looks in the hallway or avoiding her altogether. Meanwhile, Erica gives him flashy smiles and a couple of hair twirls that have never failed her. Sure, he had seen her fight off her best friend while both of them had their fangs out, and she almost drank his blood. But the key word in that was almost. She didn't actually do it, so there should be no hard feelings.

"Okay, then I won't tell you," Erica said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Seriously? The last interaction you had with him resulted in him realizing you're a vampire," Sarah said, still in shock that her friend would chase the same guy for so long. Erica usually gave up after a month or two. Erastus was pure eye-candy. Even so, he probably was freaked out by her now that he knew she hunted humans.

"He won't think that anymore when I explain to him that what he saw was a big misunderstanding," Erica said, not having any clue of what excuse she would use for that night. Perhaps she could say that her love for Dusk made her want to try it out in real life. He should be understanding of that, right?

"Have fun explaining that. How do you know he's even going to the festival?" Sarah prodded. Erica wouldn't have signed them up without being positive that he'd be there too. She was desperate but not to that extent. At least that's what Sarah assumed.

Erica gave her a look. A look that said, "He gonna be face painting with us,"

"No. Erica, I am not spending an entire evening with you hitting on some poor human," Sarah protested. 

It was uncomfortable enough watching her friend do really weird things to get this guy's attention for a couple of minutes. Imagining her hitting on him for an entire evening was already starting to hurt her head. No one could stand hours of being a wing-woman. Not even the best of friends could endure that. Why did her friend have to be so extra?

"Oh come on! I'll try to help you get a date if you help me," Erica said, hoping that she would take the bait.

"I don't want a date. As you said, I never have a date on Valentine's Day," Sarah said, rolling her eyes. She was saying 'no', but her heart was reaching out for her friend.

"We can break that tradition tonight. Please," Erica pleaded quietly.

"You're so lucky I'm your best friend," Sarah said, giving in to her fate. It was only one night. And if Erica did end up with Erastus, she'd be able to thank her for it.

"Yay! Meet me after school so we can get ready together," Erica said, jumping a little in the air and clapping her hands quickly.

"You owe me," Sarah stated with a point of her fingers. She owed her so much.


	3. Who is that?!

Science class felt excruciatingly long for Benny and Ethan. When the class had ended, they both were already packed up and storming out of the classroom. Hungry for a quick snack, they made their way over to the vending machines. Ethan cocked his head to the side as he noticed an irritated Sarah standing around and crossing her arms. They both forgot about their famine and approached their distressed friend.

"Hey Sarah," Ethan said, looking her up and down for any signs that indicated her reason for her annoyed appearance. 

There were few instances that Sarah seemed disturbed about things. Sarah wasn't a drama person. From time to time, she would complain about things but not to an extreme extent. If she was upset about something, there was definitely something to be upset about. Hopefully it wasn't anything Jesse related. Ethan didn't know how much more of Jesse he could take.

"Hey guys," She said sourly.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked in concern.

Ethan never liked to see Sarah in pain. Whenever he could, he did his best to comfort her. Usually, she just pushed him aside and went on with her life. On the rare occasions when she accepted reaching out, he was glad to be rewarded with her vocalizing her issues. It made him feel closer to her.

"Nothing. Erica just signed us up for face painting at the festival tonight and Erastus is going to be there. I really don't feel like being in the middle of a National Geographic episode tonight," Sarah was really dreading a night that she didn't even want to think about in the first place. Tonight was supposed to be the night that she relaxed and instead she has to spend most of her way wallowing away and hoping that Erica will cancel on her stupid plan. Why did she have to be such a good friend? 

"Why? You just made third-wheeling sound cool," Benny chimed in.

Secretly, Benny was hoping that there would be some crazy chick fight between Erica and Sarah. Chick fights were one of those things that were hot to guys for some inexplicable reason. Man, he'd love to see who won in a fight like that. Would people start placing bets on the winner? He should totally make this a thing. He could make millions off of getting people to bet on chick fights.

"Well it won't be cool when we have a Greek vampire to worry about," Sarah bemoaned.

Her main concern with the whole ordeal was that Erica would lash out and turn Erastus into a vampire or worse. Erica's reputation for rejection is typically to keep pursuing until they give up, but sometimes she goes a little haywire. Just once, Sarah wished that Erica would act like a responsible vampire and learn to control herself. The likeliness of that happening was so minuscule that pigs had better chances of flying.

"Oh relax. He probably doesn't even like her," Benny said, knowing the kinds of guys that Erica goes after.

Erastus had been avoiding Erica for ages now and that as evident to anyone who had eyes. Sometimes, Benny would joke to Ethan about how stupid she looked at every pass she made at him. Mostly, he ignored her and moved on with his life. But the times when he rolls his eyes are funny. He should make fun of her for it next time she calls him a dork.

"How does Erica handle rejection?" Ethan asked, already knowing the answer.

"Maybe it's good that she signed me up," Sarah said thoughtfully. The night will most likely end up with Sarah to the rescue anyway. She was always the one cleaning up other people's messes. For once, it'd be nice to have a break and let other people handle their own problems.

"Yeah, she seems like the kind of chick that goes full Hulk mode," Benny said.

"Try vampire hulk mode. Ew, you're making me speak dork," Sarah said.

"Woah, who's Rory with?" Ethan said.

The two peered over curiously in the direction Ethan was staring at. To their surprise, they witnessed Rory walking down the hall with a beautiful girl holding onto his arm. She had bronzed skin, chocolate honey colored hair, blue eyes, and puffy lips. The mysterious girl was wearing a pair of extreme skinny jeans and a low-cut ruby top. Needless to say, her hourglass figure made her look like a Victoria's Secret model.

"Step aside sucker and singles, the "Rorster" is here," Rory said with a smirk on his face.

All three of them were dumbstruck. Neither of them had seem such an anomaly before, and they had dealt with freaking vampires. Benny thought this was more shocking to see than a man landing on the moon in the 60's. This girl had to be some crazy vampire fan. There was no other logical explanation.

"Who are your friends?" A hot girl asked.

"That's Ethan, that's Benny, and that's Sarah. Guys, this is the girl I was talking about earlier," Rory said, too pleased with himself. He knew he was the total package, so it came as no surprise that she accepted his proposal to go out on a date at the festival tonight. Everything was going according to plan for him.

"There's no way she's Greta. She's so...pretty," Benny said, eyeing her up and down with a silly grin on his face. He waved shyly at her and watched as she wiggled her fingers back at him.

Greta stepped forward to the three and sniffed the top of their heads. The huff of air hitting their face through her tiny nostrils was powerful, as if she were sucking in any remaining scent on their bodies. She frowned at Benny and took a whiff of him again before settling back in Rory's arms.

"I didn't take you as an oatmeal person," Greta said to Benny. Sarah gave her a look.

"How do you know what he had for breakfast?" Sarah asked, almost accusatory. No normal person could tell what someone had for breakfast by just sniffing their face and neck. 

"Oatmeal is quite a distinctive scent. I'm guessing your meal was a little more...carnivorous," Greta snarled back.

Greta did not like Sarah and that much was clear. She was stabbing knives at her with each glance made her way and took careful measures to step back farther from her than before. The vibe between the two of them was off. Sarah felt like she was Sherlock Holmes trying to confront a criminal.

"She's good," Ethan said, too entranced by her beauty to even focus on any flaws she could present.

"And pretty," Benny said again.

"Yup! She's the total package. Don't act too jealous," Rory said proudly.

"I have to rush to class my cube steak. Walk with me?" Greta requested.

"Cube steak?" Sarah asked, folding her arms and raising up an eyebrow at the couple.

"Anything for you, my sweets," Rory said. And with that, they both walked away.

"Did you guys notice it too?" Sarah asked when they were gone.

"I'm pretty sure everyone noticed. She is way out of his league," Benny said, thinking back to when Rory was dating that doll lady.

"No, I mean the part where she has a superhuman sense of smell and calls him meat names," Sarah said.

"I think 'superhuman' is extreme to say, Sarah. She's got personality to her is all," Ethan chimed in.

"Really? You two geek over weird stuff all the time and she doesn't seem out of the ordinary at all to you?" Sarah inquired.

How could they not notice the obvious signs here?! There was clearly something out of the ordinary about her and they were willing to ignore it all because she was pretty. It felt like Lucia all over again minus the sun god coming down on earth. Teenage boys can be so immature. Did she have to do everything herself?

"Nope, she's just a supermodel at our high school," Ethan said.

"Unbelievable," She said as she walked away while rolling her eyes.


	4. Furry Weird Questions

Ethan and Benny remained shocked as they continued on with their classes. If anyone had made a million dollar bet with them that Rory would have a hot girlfriend, they both would be a million dollars broke. A variety of questions arose and remained in their minds. How? Why? How? How had Rory managed to achieve the unbelievable? Why did she like him? How did she see anything in him? 

Both were still bewildered by the time lunch rolled around. They were so lost in thought that the pinkish looking chili on their trays wasn't phasing them, and the riot of noise surrounding wasn't penetrating their ears. Ethan didn't give a second look when lunch lady Helen handed him an apple with no gloves on. Not one of Benny's eyes bat when the kid in front of him sneezed on all of the fries that he eventually took. After their fun wait in line, Ethan rushed over to see Rory seated at a table with Greta twirling his hair in her fingers.

"Hey," Ethan said as he nestled a seat across from them and placed his tray on the table. When he glanced down he mentally face-palmed. He forgot silverware! Benny settled next to him and dropped a plastic fork on Ethan's tray. He was thoughtful sometimes.

"Hey, check this out. Greta is a huge eater, it's so cute," Rory said, bringing this odd phenomenon to their attention.

Greta had an excessive amount of meat on her plate that included three pieces of fried chicken, a large steak, two slices of honey ham, and four fat sausages. The pile was a large meat mountain. There's no way that a girl can remain as fit as her and be able to eat all of that food. She either wasted her money and was going to throw a majority of it away or today was her cheat day. Maybe she was preparing for a fasting or something. Was she Jewish? When was Passover? Wait, Jews don't eat ham.

"Man, that girl can eat," Benny said in awe, his eyes super glued to her plate. It looked so small with all that food on it.

"Everyone needs their protein," Greta said very instant.

"That looks like a month's worth of protein," Benny remarked. 

Greta leaned down, ignoring the criticism, and picked up a greasy chicken leg from the pile. Her sharp teeth sliced the crusted skin and torn it cleanly from the entire leg. In one swallow, an entire layer of skin disappeared down her throat. Her tongue squished against the exposed flesh before she shoved the rest of the leg in her mouth, with only the end being held by two fingers. Slowly, she pulled out the leg with only bone showing. Benny cringed at the sight. He was starting to see how Greta was in Rory's league, despite her appearance. 

"So what do you two have planned for today?" Ethan asked, not knowing what else to talk about with Greta. He figured girls liked talking about date stuff.

"I'm taking my babe to the Valentine's festival at school. I'm a beast at carnival games so I'm gonna win her all the stuffed animals there," Rory said proudly.

"Since when were you good at carnival games?" Ethan asked confused. He thought of all the times Rory moaned when he couldn't get the basketball in the basket or the ring over the bottle. Yeah, there were quite a few meltdowns at their last visit to an amusement park.

"Since I stopped needing glasses," Rory said, hinting at that night when he was cursed to drink blood for eternity.

Being a vampire probably did come with more advantages with Ethan realized. Was provision one of these assets? There were many traits vampires possessed that Ethan didn't think we necessary to hunt down a human. Sure, nice vision was important but superhuman vision and hearing wasn't a necessity. Monsters were a weird entity on their own. Being suave would've been a nice thing for Rory considering he has the appeal of a potato. How was the kid not starving by now?

"Right. Well, I don't need that to be a boss at carnival games. I'm a natural," Benny said, mostly to Greta.

Even though he was slowly losing interest in the woman who ate like a lion, Benny still wanted to shoot his shot. And what better way to get a girl than through skill? Chicks dug guys that were good at things. It made them look appealing and not like a waste of time. Girls were like those female birds that only are attracted to the perfect male bird even if she ain't all that.

"What? No you're not," Ethan commented.

Slightly, though for no particularly known reason, Ethan was becoming jealous that Benny was trying to show off to Greta. He was jealous of Greta; however, not Benny. Ethan was very attracted to this gorgeous woman, but he didn't want to date her or anything. Plus, it was mean of Benny to hit on a girl that Rory likes. He was totally going against the bro code!

"Uh, yes I am. Remember when I won that stuffed Yoda at the balloon popping station?" Benny said, hoping a brother could help him out.

"You mean the game where little girls were also winning prizes?" Ethan asked, remembering what he was referring to.

"Hey, those girls just got lucky. It takes sufficient skill and precision to hit those balloons," Benny said.

It was a proud moment for him. If you hit five balloons, you could win a giant pokemon stuffed animal of your choosing. Benny was given only six darts to pop the balloons. Three yellows and two reds later, the guy was pulling down a Charizard into Benny's scrawny arms. Rory was mad too because he had been trying all night to win a prize. Ethan didn't care or try.

"Not really," Ethan said. He looked down at his food only to finally realize it didn't look right. He'd find some chips at the vending machine later. The vending machine was the only place where food was safe to eat.

"I'm much more of a hunter," Greta said with a lick of her lips as she downed the steak.

"Oh, so you shoot things?" Benny asked. Benny had never personally hunted, but he supposed it could be fun.

"No, that'd be insensitive to the animals. I tackle them," Greta said sharply. 

...what...

"Isn't she great?" Rory said, petting her head. Her tongue came out and she panted gently as he played with her coarse hair.

Ethan and Benny gave them a weird look, and then looked at each other. Sarah as right, there's definitely something weird going on here.


	5. Ethan's hEARt

Time was a complicated concept. People had different senses of the length of time, the idea of it, and even thoughts of how it worked. In hindsight, time was intelligently created to conveniently space out where the sun was located, and its relation to the human schedule. Typically, school went by slowly for Ethan. He liked to learn new things, but could always sense just how slow it was truly going. Today was unlike most. His mind was hyper-focused on his emotional complexities revolving around a specific friend of his. Due to his mind continually thinking of him and their relations to one another, he would think that thirty minutes was really five minutes. 

Benny. If he hadn't befriended that impulsive idiot, then he wouldn't be in this brain boggling mess. Instead, he'd be able to respond to Mr.G's question about why an atom is so dense. But alas, ten years ago he thought it would be a brilliant idea to be friends with the kid on the playground screaming, "The power of the Triforce compels you!" at innocent children that didn't even know what crazy things he was referencing. This one choice led up to countless adventures that were occasionally regretful. Being manipulated by magic to fall in love fell on the list of "Let's never speak of this again." They hadn't brought up that wretched day in eleven months, but Ethan was being reminded of it everywhere he turned. His magically conjured feelings for Benny had started to feel real once again. It was almost as if love had some magic element in the first place. And he didn't like it. He was supposed to be best friends with Benny, not actually fall in love with him! Maybe if he shrugged it off and after Valentine's Day was over, this all go away.

"Ethan, how many protons are in Calcium?" Mr.G asked, noticing that the guy was hardcore spacing out.

"Benny," Ethan mumbled, completely out of it and not truly aware of what he was saying. Mr.G gave him a confused look behind all of the kids giggling to themselves.

"Come again?" He said, not sure he heard Ethan right.

"Um, can I use the washroom?" Ethan pleaded.

"I don't know, can you?" Mr.G shot back, annoyed that Ethan wasn't answering his initial question.

"I know you're not an English teacher, but I would've thought you knew I was using 'can' in its secondary modal form as a verbal modifier. That means it conveys permission and not one's ability or capability," Ethan fired back, just wanting to go to a safe place in his own thoughts.

Mr.G was shocked. No one had ever responded to him like that before. Actually, no one really had a quick-witted response. They'd just correct themselves and say 'may'.

"Go ahead to the washroom, Ethan," Mr.G said, not wanting to continue the pointless argument.

Ethan got up quickly and shot his teacher a look.

"By the way, the answer was twenty," Ethan said before he stepped out of the classroom.

Rushing down the seemingly longer than usual hallway, he stormed into the male washroom. Guys didn't take good care of the washroom unfortunately. There were stains in places people didn't want to know about, and the floors always stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Ethan approached a sink with the phrase, "Our butts just indirectly touched," inked on the mirror above it. Thankfully, no one was in the washroom and could see his face to that. His hands gripped the slimy pearl bin. Looking in his reflection, he sucked in all the air in the room and slowly deflated like a pathetic balloon. Finally, he was alone to his thoughts.

So Benny was a cool guy. He made funny jokes, albeit not always with the best timing, and knew references to every game and movie Ethan liked. His eyes looked cute when they sparkled after he successfully chanted a spell. The huge smile that plastered his face gave Benny this glow that not many had. AND THE IDIOT WAS THE MOST IMPULSIVE AND THOUGHTLESS PERSON ON THE PLANET AND SHOULD'VE NEVER BEEN GIVEN MAGIC. Ugh! Thanks to Benny, Ethan was having a major 'oops I fell in love with my best friend' crisis. 

Ethan shook his head and rolled his oak eyes. His grip tightened to the point where the purple veins in his hands popped and his fingers painted red. Bam! Bam Bam! His heart was punching its chest as fast as a marathon runner. Another sigh escaped him. Okay, so he potentially liked Benny like that. But today was Valentine's Day. It messed with everyone's head. All he had to do was calm down and not think about it. If he focused on chemistry that involved atoms instead of people, he was sure to get all this lovey-dovey nonsense out of his head.

For a few minutes, he breathed in and out using diaphragmatic breathing as his panic attack dissipated patiently. When it had completely disappeared, he felt himself ready to go back to class. Ethan headed out of the washroom. He opened the door and turned left only to bump into Greta. His eyes suddenly glowed white.

________________________

Greta and Rory were at the Valentine's Day festival. They were very happy and giggling with each other. Suddenly, they were by an empty area in the vicinity. Rory was laying on the ground. Greta had a face covered in fur with her yellow orbs lit up, a red liquid dripping down the side of her face

________________________

"Sorry Ethan, I didn't see you there," Greta said apologetically. She brushed his shoulders off nicely and pranced away.

'Crud!' Ethan thought to himself.

Quickly, he whipped out his phone and immediately texted Benny.

*Benny,  
I just ran into Greta and had a vision. She’s a werewolf who hates vampires. She plans to eat Rory tonight! Get back to me ASAP*

Not a minute passed and he felt his hand vibrating.

*ur place, aftr school. c u there.*

It looked like their plan of playing video games while Ethan tried to ignore his feelings was going to have to be extended to next year. Instead, they were fighting off the supernatural...again. When will they have a normal day? It seems like they never got a day off.


	6. Man with a Plan

Ethan and Benny forwarded the terrible news to Sarah. She was indifferent when it came to Rory, but that didn't mean she wanted him to be eaten! Considering he'd be in the same vicinity as her, it would be one gruesome death that she would never forget. Plus, his ghost would probably haunt the school or something. She'd have to deal with that for the next year. No thanks! And for that reason, she agreed to meet up at Ethan's house to devise an "Operation Save Rory" plan that was doubtfully going to work in practicality.

When she entered the room, she noticed that Benny and Ethan were already searching through books. Ethan was sitting in his chair, flipping fervently through pages. Benny was laying on Ethan's bed, carefully reading a chapter presumably about werewolves. For a moment, she stood at the door and took in the few seconds of history happening in front of her, Ethan and Benny being quiet. Getting bored of looking at the dorks, she stepped into a room filled with posters and nerd merchandise.

"Hello, Earth to dorks," Sarah said, closing the door behind her and approaching Ethan.

"Hey Sarah," Ethan said, glancing up from his read and shutting after he'd bookmarked the page.

"So, any news yet?" Sarah said with a small amount of hope in her heart. Her faith in them wasn't extremely strong, but heck if she wasn't going to try to convince herself otherwise.

"Nothing too interesting. All I've gotten is that werewolves are allergic to silver and love meat," Ethan said in defeat. The only silver he knew was in the house was his mom's jewelry and her prized silverware collection that was only used on special events like Christmas dinners and dinner meetings. There's no way he could use any of her precious shiny knives. Instead of a vampire death, there'd be a seer death!

Ethan didn't think there was much they could do considering everything he was finding was common knowledge on werewolves. Fighting off a supernatural creature would be rather difficult if they didn't know how to fix it. Last time they dealt with a werewolf, Sarah had to cure him because he was so powerful, and that was Ethan when Benny accidentally turned him into one! If Sarah couldn't fend off Ethan as a werewolf, what made them think they could fight off an actual one?

"Ah-ha!" Benny said triumphantly, pointing at a specific line in his book. "It says right here that you can trap a werewolf in a moonstone. All we have to do now is go to the moon," 

"Benny, are you sure that book isn't talking about the moonstone that's comprised of sodium potassium aluminium silicate? You know, elements found on Earth," Ethan said to him with a raised eyebrow. Certainly Benny didn't believe they had to go to the moon. That would be preposterous.

"Oh, that'd make more sense," Benny said, realizing that must've been what the book was referring to.

Benny sat up and focused more on the pages. There were a couple of rock drawings on the side with a bunch of Latin that often times was difficult to understand. He had been taking Latin more seriously now that he was going to need the supposed 'dead' language for the rest of his life. Blah blah blah, werewolves and moonstone stuff was all that was essentially on the page. It was quite a bit of focusing for him to even get that far in the book without passing out.

"Okay, well where do we find moonstones?" Sarah said.

"Luckily for us, we have a gemstone collector on our hands," Ethan said.

"We do?" Benny asked in surprise with a raised eyebrow.

He hopped up from his swivel chair and made his way across the room. His clammy hand clasped on a drawer and revealed a large collection of stones and gems. There were shiny red and green stones that Benny couldn't recognize. They were neatly organized in a clear container with over 50 squares. On the bottom of each individual cube was the name of the stone it held.

Benny didn't know that Ethan had a hidden hobby. In a weird way, it hurt his feelings. They were best friends and supposed to tell each other everything. Benny, for instance, told him about that time he fell in love with that alien chick with the three pom poms and about that time he kissed a tree. Meanwhile, Ethan had an entire stone collection and hadn't bothered to mention it once. What kind of friend could Benny be if he couldn't proudly tell people that he already knew secret little facts about his bestie?

"Take a look at these bad boys," Ethan said, holding up a round stone that was white with a light blue shift.

"That's great, but how are we going to get a werewolf in that?" Sarah asked.

"According to grandma's book, this spell will cast her into it when the moon rises," Benny said, showing the two of the Latin he has to chant, 'luna virtute posuerunt lapidem Lupum.'

"What's the plan then?" Sarah asked, not knowing who to look at.

"That's Ethan's job," Benny said confidently. 

"Okay, let me think...Sarah, you try to find a private spot at school for us to put her in the moonstone. Text us a photo and details of how to get there so we have that part figured out. Benny and I will lure Rory over there by telling him it's the perfect place for him and Greta to make out. She'll notice that it's private and try to eat him. Then Benny chants the spell," Ethan said.

"Wow, you just came up with that?" Benny knew Ethan was a smart cookie but forgot the extent of his intellect.

"Yeah," Ethan said casually.

"You're like a robot. No wait, a futuristic robot!" Benny said.

"Save the geek talk for later. Tonight, we're saving Rory. Hopefully," Sarah said, still not fully convinced that this plan would work in the slightest.


	7. Poor Erastus

Blasting around the entire green space, love songs filled even the emptiest places in the gigantic festival the school was hosting. The theme was red and pink, of course, with a multitude of couple things to do. There was a photo booth, a Ferris Wheel, an extreme ride, a carousel, ten games, a face painting station, food courts, and more. The school must've had too much money to know what to do with because it certainly went all out. About a hundred people had already arrived within the first thirty minutes of opening to the public.

Back at the face painting station was a red tent with pink hearts plastered on it. Underneath was a station of paints, mirrors and chairs. So far, only a few people had bothered to walk up to the area. Sarah hadn't even arrived yet. That didn't matter though. The less people that were there, the more time Erica had to convert Erastus to Ericanism.

"Today's your lucky day," Erica said with a twisted grin on her face, settling quite comfortably in a chair next to Erastus' station. He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Why's that?" Erastus questioned.

Erastus was thinking that Erica was after him for his artistic abilities. She probably wanted him to paint something stupid such as "EricaxErastus" or a corny pick up line on her face. This crazy chick had been pursuing him for a year and didn't seem to know when to take a hike. He had done everything he could to kindly let her down, but she wasn't having any of it. Erica was going to be very successful in life if her persistence in her job was the same as her dating life. 

"Because you get to spend your entire evening with me," Erica answered with glee. She couldn't wait to know more about the guy she'd been fantasizing to be with for what felt like a decade.

"Have you even face painted before?" Erastus asked.

No freaking way. How was he going to be able to stand Erica's forceful flirting on him for hours? He could barely contain himself for the five minutes she would try at school. Plus, last he remembered, SHE WAS A FREAKING VAMPIRE. He had to keep his cool because she could literally drain all of the blood from his body in a matter of minutes for merely looking at her the wrong way. It was all starting to make sense now. That's why she was crazy.

"No, but it doesn't look that hard. I'm sure a pro like you could teach me," Erica said, biting her bottom lip and drawing her eyes darkly to his.

"If I do then I'll have to charge you," Erastus said, but it wasn't in a flirting tone. It sounded more like someone that wanted to make a transaction at a thrift store.

"I'm sure I can find ways to pay you," Erica said, looking him up and down in hopes that he'd take the hint.

"How about fifty bucks?" Erastus said as he began to organize his station the way he liked it. All of his brushes were neatly placed in a cup while his paints were opposite.

"Fifty dollars? You want to make a hottie like me pay?" Erica asked, almost offended if his playing hard to get wasn't so sexy.

"Knowledge is valuable," Erastus said coolly.

Meanwhile, two specific geeks were not very subtly hiding behind a giant bush with a pair of binoculars shared between them. Ethan had stuck the binoculars in the plant and stared through the lenses, patiently waiting for his friend and his 'date' to pass by. Benny was not so patient. Watching everyone else have fun was tiring.

"I see Rory and Greta," Ethan said quietly.

Rory and Greta were holding hands, laughing at a joke and making their way towards the fun house. Figures. Rory was likely to make the worst jokes about his looks. Wait. That idiot! Why would he go in a fun house if he doesn't even have a reflection?!

"Great! Now what?" Benny asked, huffing softly and plopping on the dirt beside Ethan.

"We wait for Greta to leave him alone so we can show him the spot. We went over this earlier. Were you even listening?" Ethan asked.

Ethan had gone over the plan with Benny and Sarah a couple of times to ensure that everyone was on the same page. They were dealing with a werewolf here after all, and this needed to be taken as seriously as it was.

"No," Benny confessed. He stared at the ground. It was too painful to see another couple having the time of their lives while he was stuck here on babysitting duty with Ethan.

"We'll just have to wait for when Greta needs to use the washroom or something," Ethan said, answering Benny's next question.

"Ugh, do we have to watch them all night? That squirt gun game looks like fun," Benny bemoaned.

Benny waned his head to the water gun game. A blonde male had just won and was handing over a pink ferret stuffed animal to a cheerful girl. He missed the times when he could be a normal teenager and be more concerned about whether he was getting a date to a festival over saving his friend from impending doom. It was fun to fight the monsters, but everything else with it was trash.

"Rory first, games later. We have to stay focused," Ethan said, staying focused to their mission at hand.

"Really? Where's your sense of adventure? Would Luke Skywalker want you to succumb to this?" Benny asked. He was seriously desperate for a game...or three.

"Luke would've done the most sensible thing," Ethan said.

"You and I both know that's not true," Benny said. Ethan ignored him.

"Come on, one little game can't hurt," Benny protested.

"Not gonna happen,"

"Please," Benny begged in that pouty voice that was nearly impossible to say no to.

"Okay, fine but only one game. We can't lose track of Rory and Greta," Ethan said, unable to say no to his best friend.


	8. Lucky Charm

One innocent carnival game had turned into five with Ethan and Benny. Their matched love for spending excessive amounts of money for cheaply manufactured stuffed animals took them to a whole new level of procrastination. Ethan was never good at carnival games. Benny, on the other hand, was mildly decent. So far, he had won three out of the five games they played and carried around three adorable stuffed pets. He had an avocado plushie, a stuffed French Bulldog, and a stuffed emoji with its tongue sticking out. His victory was outshining Ethan's five losses.

There was one game they both had been avoiding but desperately wanted to win: Ball and Bucket toss. The game was simple. Three perfectly rounded buckets were popped on the sides so that their bellies touched the ground. The player was given four balls and needed to toss three inside in order to win a prize. As easy as it sounded, it wasn't. Every time they would watch someone attempt to get the ball to stay in the bucket, the ball would slide out due to the roundness of the bucket. It was nearly impossible to actually win the game, hence the plethora of stuffed animals shielding the horror of murdered dreams. But man, Ethan really wanted that Link stuffie even though he kept telling Benny he didn't care.

"I'm going in," Benny said bravely, staring intensely at the enemy which he was determined to defeat. If there was one thing Benny hated more than messing up a spell, it was losing. By all means necessary, he'd do what it'd take to win. 

"I'm not. There's no point in wasting money on a game I'll lose," Ethan rationalized.

Ethan was opposite of Benny. If the risk was too grand and wasn't worth it, then he wouldn't pursue it. Spending money on a game he already knew was going to be a waste of time sounded idiotic. However, his optimistic and opportunistic friend believed differently. Benny always thought the odds would be in his favor, regardless of the countless signs that told him otherwise.

"Dude, did you forget I have magic? I can win any game I want," Benny said confidently.

"Benny, don't cheat your way into winning," Ethan insisted.

"It's not cheating. It's using my advantages," Benny said.

Benny didn't see an issue with using his new capabilities. His magic was freaking amazing, and he hadn't been able to use it for the first fifteen years of his existence. Now that he had magic, he wanted to use it as much as possible. Plus, using it for games was good practice. He rationalized that using his magic for one game wouldn't be bad.

"If the game were made for people who used magic then it wouldn't be cheating, but it's designed for people with limited capabilities," Ethan explained.

"Would it be cheating if there was a game for jump scares and a deaf person played? No, so technically I'm not cheating," Benny said, using very flawed logic.

"Technically, that person has more limited capabilities and not advantages; therefore, it isn't the same as having endless magical power," Ethan pointed out.

"What's the big deal? Carnival games are always rigged so really I'm not cheating if they cheated first," Benny said with annoyance.

"If they made the games easy to win then they'd go bankrupt," Ethan said.

"Jeez, alright I won't use magic. What's got you on the moral boat today?" Benny said. Ethan rolled his eyes.

The boys approached the game. Benny pulled out a couple of dollars and handed it to the blonde male who clearly didn't like his job. He took the cash and gave the two a look.

"One round please," Benny said with a grin on his face.

The game guy handed him four white baseballs. This was going to be harder than he thought. Benny picked up a ball, his tongue stuck out of his mouth slightly, as he tried to calculate what kind of toss he would need to effectively get the ball in the bucket. His breath hitched as the ball escaped his flinging force, watching as it landed nicely in the bucket ahead of him.

"E, did you see that? I got one in!" Benny cheered, surprised with himself.

"Yep, I saw it," Ethan said with skepticism in his voice .

Benny picked up his second ball. With confidence and relying on muscle memory, he tossed it and watched as the ball rolled out of the bucket.

"Ah, darn it. The stupid ball went the wrong way!" Benny groaned, raising his hands in the air at the ridiculousness.

Ethan was certain he was going to lose.

Benny gulped and picked up his third ball. Again, he raised it. This time, he placed it eye level and made some pretend practice throws. He threw the ball, the wind swiftly passing it and let it stick to the back of the bucket like glue.

"Woah! Dude, I only need one more! Here, blow on it," Benny said, raising the ball to Ethan's face.

"What?" Ethan asked, giving him a really weird look.

"It's what people do sometimes, they have their partner blow on the ball for good luck," Benny explained. 

"You're weird," Ethan said with reddening cheeks but blew on it anyway. They both held in their breaths as he tossed the last ball.

The ball raised victoriously up in the air and swirled around the back of the bucket before deciding to safely land in place at its new home.

"Yes!!! I am the Jedi master, and you have been defeated!" Benny yelled as a giant nerd, twirling around in the air and acting like a lunatic.

"Congratulations, choose a Link," the guy who clearly didn't care about his job said.

"Hmmmm I'm gonna go with that one!" Benny said, pointing at a cute Link plushie.

The Link was fuzzy with a green triangle hat, and his typical attire. A sword was in his right hand and a shield stuck to his left.

"You totally annihilated that," Ethan said enthusiastically.

"You know it," Benny said proudly, taking his stuffed prize with a grin. He paused and handed it to Ethan.

"Why are you handing it to me?" Ethan said in confusion.

"You keep him," Benny said, feeling bad that Ethan had lost all of the games. 

"But I didn't do anything," Ethan said.

"You earned it. You gave me my lucky toss," Benny said. Ethan half smiled at him and accepted his gift.

"Thanks, I guess," He said shyly. Ethan gently squeezed his gift and sighed.

"No prob my main man," Benny said. The winner turned around to see if there were other games he could totally destroy.

With his friend's attention away from him, Ethan stole a quick kiss on the top of Link's head. So he had a major crush on his friend. He was fairly certain of that fact now. The problem was that HE WAS FAIRLY CERTAIN HE HAD A CRUSH ON HIS BEST FRIEND. There was so much wrong with it, and he couldn't begin to know what to do with this knowledge. He would have to stay quiet about it, he mused.


	9. Rory's Dinner

There they were. Ethan was holding a peculiar looking stuffed boy, and Benny was surveying the games that surrounded the festival. One looked worried, and the other looked excited. Yep, that seemed exactly like them.

"Hey guys, you about ready?" Sarah asked as she approached the two, though in the back of her mind she was wondering if they were even focused.

"Ready?" Benny asked, shifting his view to the tanned vampire.

"Yeah. The moon is about to come up," Sarah said, pointing to the darkening sky and flashing lights the festival put on. They both give her a look. "You showed Rory the spot, right?" Sarah asked.

There were times when the boys were reliable. However, they always chose the most inconvenient times to be unreliable as well! Sure, they took responsibility for their mistakes and did their best to fix them. But if they weren't doing something stupid in the first place, they wouldn't have a mess to clean up.

"Wait! We forgot about Rory!" Benny realized, smacking his forehead and panicking at Ethan's expense.

"Benny, I told you we should've stopped at the water gun game," Ethan said.

Why did Ethan go along with half of the things that Benny suggested? It became apparent to him a long time ago that whenever he went along with what Benny had in mind, things were bound to end in disaster. Still, he stuck by his friend's side like a sore thumb no matter the idiocy.

"Well, I wasn't thinking that the games would take so long to play," Benny countered. In truth, he didn't plan on being too long. He thought they'd play a quick few rounds and be on their merry way. Time flew by when he was on a winning streak though.

"You lost Rory?!" Sarah exclaimed. Could she ever trust them with anything?!

"It's not that big of a deal. We can find him again," Benny assured her.

Benny was nonchalant about most thins. Mainly, that was because despite things going awry, they always managed to work out in the end. There were countless times when things didn't go according to plan, but they ended up okay. So what did he have to fear this time? Nothing.

"You better find him soon! He's about to be eaten," Sarah said, raising her hands in the air and turning around frantically to find the victim.

"We're on it. Come on Benny," Ethan said seriously.

Ethan and Benny nodded at each other before dashing off in separate directions. Both had weird runs, with their baggy pants and overly sized shirts flinging around against their chicken scrap bodies. Yeah, it was hopeless.

"Ugh, why do I have to deal with these idiots?" Sarah wondered, storming around the festival in annoyance. 

Benny first took a look at all of the extreme rides. He knew Rory couldn't resist those and would want to show off to his girlfriend. Sarah thought that he would take a crack at the games like the other two idiots. Ethan figured that they would want to go somewhere private. Rory was the kind of person to attempt romance even though he wasn't very romantic, so the odds that he was at the place all along were high.

Sure enough, the prey and the hunter were centered in a brown field surrounded by trees. The moon rose perfectly above the little circle, and the privacy worked well. Rory was leaning close, trying to make a move on his woman. Ethan sauntered away to notify his friends.

"There they are!" Ethan shouted. Instantly, they both ran next to him and found a tree to hide behind.

"Looks like he found the spot all on his own," Benny said in surprise.

"Ew," Sarah said as she watched them kiss. She definitely didn't need to see that today.

"My man," Benny said proudly, nodding his head and smirking.

Slowly, Greta backed away from her 'lover'. Right before their eyes, her body morphed into the shape of a wolf with a long, bushy, black tail. Hair grew on her face and her entire body as her hands and feet turned to paws. Her head became sleek, and her eyes turned golden. A small growl erupted past teeth sharp enough to cut diamonds.

"Woah!" Rory said, stepping back and not knowing how to handle the situation where your girlfriend becomes a wolf.

"Not so fast wolfy!" Benny said as he emerged from the trees, keeping his distance and pulling out his spell book. Ethan followed him along with Sarah, standing strongly by his side even though they were far from confident. 

Greta howled loudly and lunged forward at Benny. She didn't know what the twerps were up to, but it couldn't be good for her. Ethan and Sarah barricaded the male, both having some kind of silver in their hands to ward her away. Ethan held one of his mom's silver forks, while his counterpart held up her silver bracelet. They didn't know effective they would be, but it was worth the effort.

"Luna virtute," Benny started to chant, raising the moonstone up to the moon.

Greta gave the two a look before swiping her paw to knock them both to their feet. She jumped up to steal the moonstone in her mouth but was shoved to the ground by the angry vampire. Sarah hissed her fangs at the mutt and slapped her with the bracelet. The wolf whimpered and slammed into her stomach, knocking Sarah twenty feet back from the drama. Ethan stood up and tried to get her back. Just as he raised his hand to hit her with the fork, the wolf punched him to the ground, bit his leg and threw him across the field. He groaned out in excruciating pain, coughing as the wind was stolen from him.

"Posuerunt lapidem Lupum!" Benny finished.

Quickly, a giant cry emitted from the wolf as the moonstone twinkled and sucked her body into it. The stone turned from that pretty, shiny, white to a stark black. He shoved the stone in his pocket and rushed after Ethan, who was accompanied by Sarah. She always recovered faster than the other two.

"Ethan!" Benny shouted, running over to his friend. "Are you alright dude?" he asked, approaching him and kneeling next to him

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ethan said as he started sitting up. His back was sore, but it wasn't anything to worry about. He didn't sense any broken bones. There was probably just some bruising, and that came with the job.

"What happened?" Rory asked, still not tuned in as to what he just witnessed. Sarah got up and brushed herself off.

"Your girlfriend was trying to eat you," Benny explained.

"Figures! I always get the crazy chicks," Rory complained.

"Hey, that's better than no one," Sarah pointed out.

"I guess so. Now, I just have to wait for Erica to make her move," Rory said, giving kissy lips to the world.

"That's never gonna happen," Ethan said.

"You don't know that. She is totally into me," Rory said.

"We should head back. The festival is still gonna be open for another hour," Sarah said.

"I'm gonna find me another new single lady. Later," Rory said. They all rolled their eyes. Benny stood up and reached out a hand for his pal. Ethan gripped it tightly and was raised from his painful bed.

"You feel good enough to hang here?" Benny asked, not certain that they should explore more of what the festival had to offer.

"I'm fine Benny. Let's finish what we started," Ethan said.

"Awe yes!"


	10. Ferris Spiel

Spinning high and reaching for Heaven, the calming wheel swooped down casually as its riders enjoyed the scenic view of their hometown that seldom was shown. Benny and Ethan stood in line and watched other people laugh and chat on the Ferris Wheel. Both of them had wanted to go on the most extreme ride, the Vomiting Twisters, but it had closed down early due to maintenance issues. Besides that, Ethan wasn't certain that his recent injuries would hold up. So they opted for a soothing and tall ride. Neither were opposed to this after they had just finished chasing around a vampire and werewolf couple for an hour. 

When it was their turn, the yellow door welcomed them to sit on its blue seat. Ethan shoved himself inside while placing Link on his lap and was squished by his friend whom accompanied him. The nervous male couldn't look Benny in the eye and resorted to focusing on the ground that he was suddenly being lifted from. His breath hitched when a small nudge from Benny's knee tapped his, forcing the space between them to diminish. This was going to be one awkward ride.

Steadily, the little cart was lifted from the air and slightly tilted back from the cargo it carried. The silence between the two was deafening, and all they could be heard was the faintly obnoxious music blasting throughout the festival. Neither knew what to say in such an intimate ride.

"Do you think we'd be doing this if we hadn't met Sarah?" Benny asked, finally breaking the ice. He didn't know what lead him to the question; he just said it.

"Probably. I mean, you're a spellmaster and I'm a seer. That wouldn't have changed. Rory still would've gone to that party and become a vampire. He'd tell us about Jesse, and we'd save Whitechapel," Ethan said thoughtfully.

If it weren't for Sarah, Ethan didn't know how they would survive through half of the things they have been through. Whether she liked to admit it or not, they were a trio ready to fight the evils that plagued Whitechapel. Rory could be useful, but his immature and oblivious nature made it difficult to rely on him. And there was no way that Erica would've helped those twerps. She ditched them as their babysitter before she even started!

"I guess we'd need a lot more help without her," Benny said.

"Heh, yeah that's for sure," Ethan said. And though they had a simple conversation, it quickly died down.

A plethora of thoughts were wracking in Ethan's brain. Here he was, sitting next to the guy he was quite certain he liked in a romantic way. His feelings for his friend were no longer just platonic. The problem was, he couldn't decipher if the cause was due to the spell or not. He knew that the spell wasn't affecting him currently, but perhaps the effects of feeling that way in the first place opened new doors to see Benny in a way he would've never thought otherwise. Thoughts like these made Ethan wish he would've taken up on Benny's offer to have his memory erased of those three tragic days.

"Are you okay? This whole day you've been...different. Reminds me of last year," Benny said.

Benny could sense that something was off about his friend. Ethan was still mostly himself, but his aura was off. Instead of being the snarky guy in a more blunt way, his snarkiness was almost catty. He seemed more distant too, as if there were some invisible barrier he had protected himself with that Benny deemed impenetrable. The question was 'why'. Why was he acting so oddly to his friend when they seemed fine before?

"Yeah. It's just...have you ever looked at someone one way the whole time you've known them and then viewed them completely differently when you learn one little fact about them?" Ethan asked.

"Like when Princess Leia turned out to be Luke's sister?" Benny asked.

"Sort of," Ethan said. At least he was starting to get it.

"It was so messed up that they were siblings. If I were Luke, I would've been scarred for life," Benny said, leaning his arm on the cart, letting the wind tickle his fingertips.

"Me too," Ethan said. Typically, Ethan had more to say even if it didn't amount to much. But for the first time, he didn't know what to say. He was worried that he'd say the wrong thing, but at the same time didn't have anything to say. He didn't want to say anything. 

Benny pondered what Ethan could be alluding to. Obviously, Ethan was treating him differently; therefore, there had to be something he saw in Benny that he didn't see before.

"Do you see me differently?" Benny asked, though he already knew the answer.

"A bit. I don't know. Everything's so confusing. I can't tell what my real feelings are from that stupid spell," Ethan said in frustration. It was so difficult to know how to differentiate what was residual from that stupid thing Benny called a spell, and if his feelings had truly just developed like this over time. He probably wouldn't like Benny in this way if it hadn't been for the spell. Unfortunately, they couldn't reverse the effects and were stuck with whatever he did. It was all Benny's fault!

This was all enlightening information, but all it did was leave Benny with more questions than when they had initially started their conversation. Ethan had left him with strong statements that meant so many things.

"What exactly are you feeling?" Benny wondered, frowning slightly and failing to look his friend in the eye.

"It's hard to put into words. You know how you'll have a crush on a girl and she'll reject you so you have to get over her? I see it like that. Like, you're someone I had a crush on that I've gotten over, but it's still weird being around you. Even though I didn't have a real crush or anything. I don't know whether it's the exact same but yea," Ethan said.

Ethan squirmed in the ride that seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. It was as if each time he continued to speak, the cart's walls were drawing closer on the two and forcing them to handle this awkward position. His fingers danced on his laps nervously, his heart was punching his chest angrily, and a small bead of sweat formed on the side of his face.

"Okay...Do you think you have a crush on me?" Benny asked, trying to get Ethan to get his point across.

"I have no idea," Ethan said, full of distraught with raised hands. This was the whole conundrum!

"That's the wrong answer. Everyone has a crush on me," Benny said with a smile. Despite the weird conversation they were having, he still managed to throw in a joke. This is how Benny coped with situations he didn't know how to handle. He wasn't used to being close with people and often pushed them away using comedy. It worked a lot.

"Benny, I'm being serious," Ethan said sharply. Benny quieted down.

"How long have you felt this way for?" Benny said, cocking his head to the side and giving his friend a concerned look. Ethan's face was getting redder and redder. He couldn't tell if that was due to Canada's cold weather or his embarrassment. Probably both.

"I mean, I think I've felt this way for a while but didn't realize it until today," Ethan said honestly.

"And you haven't been able to figure out your feelings at all?" Benny asked.

"Pretty much," 

"Wow, what a pickle," Benny said.

"No kidding,"

Benny ruminated this. It seemed like Ethan's year of soul searching hadn't done him much good. He needed a more concrete test.

"Would it help if I kissed you?" Benny asked lightly.

"Maybe," Ethan said, not truly sure if that would help or not.

"Can I at least get some definite answer before I potentially Thanos this entire friendship?" Benny requested. If he kissed Ethan, and it changed the way they perceived one another then it would be a the biggest regret of his life. Then again, he kind of already made things different due to a mistake he made one year ago.

"I can't promise anything," Ethan said truthfully.

In all honesty, Ethan didn't know if a kiss would actually do anything. He didn't know how he would react, to be more precise. It could make him fall deeper in love, or it could put his mind at ease. Or even worse, he doesn't like Benny but now is uncomfortable that they even kissed at all. It was such a risky thing to do, especially with potential spectators around.

"Okay, then I won't put my mouth to your mouth," Benny said bluntly.

"Why do you have to phrase it like that?" Ethan asked in annoyance.

"What do you mean? I'm stating a fact. My mouth would be on your mouth,"

"Yeah, but it's a weird way to say it," Ethan complained.

"It's a weird thing to do," Benny pointed out. "Wait, why don't you just touch me?" 

"What would that solve?" Ethan asked.

"You can see if the kiss would help or not. If it doesn't then we can dodge a bullet dude," Benny said, proud of his out-of-the-box thinking.

"I guess I can try," Ethan placed his hand on Benny's thigh and waited. He waited for a good thirty seconds and nothing. His stupid power wasn't even working when he needed it most. Thank you so much seer abilities. 

"Well?" Benny said in hopefulness.

"Nothing," Ethan said disappointingly. 

"Drats," Benny said. They sat there in silence again.

"This is totally a Harry Potter moment," Benny finally said.

"How is this a Harry Potter moment?" Ethan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Think about it. Harry's whole life changed because he found out he was a wizard. Our lives are changing because we found out we have powers," Benny said, almost with enthusiasm. It was as if he was excited that his powers were causing turmoil in their lives.

"It's what we do with our powers that changes our lives. You chose to misuse magic," Ethan pointed out.

"I don't recall you ever stopping me," Benny countered.

"How could I? You're relentless!" Ethan yelled.

Ethan was mad. Benny was the one who used a spell that he warned not to use, and this was the result. Ethan got punished for Benny's sins. It wasn't fair. Benny should be suffering, not an innocent bystander. Ethan shouldn't have to be questioning himself a year after this stupid spell took place. He should be hanging out with Sarah or playing video games. Instead, he felt like he were in a Twilight minus Kristen Stewart.

"Alright, let's try to calm down," Benny said, not wanting another Valentine's Day episode.

"I can't calm down. Benny, you messed with something serious, and now something serious has happened," Ethan said, having a hard time actually calming down. His breathing started getting heavier and his entire body was shaking at this point. To say he was upset was an understatement.

"It's not that serious. You're just overthinking stuff," Benny said coolly.

"I don't know if I am anymore!" Ethan practically screamed over the festival's noise. 

"What?"

"I think it's real Benny. I think my feelings are real," Ethan whispered. He couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Benny asked. Why go through all this pointless talking if he already knew he liked him? He didn't see the need for this useless banter.

"It's not that easy man. You try explaining to your best friend that you suddenly like them,"

"Ugh, all this talking is hurting my brain. Let's just getting the freaking kiss over with," Benny groaned. He leaned over and before Ethan could protest, he leaned over and pressed their lips together. Ethan gasped.

It was a light kiss. Their lips were definitely touching, but there was barely pressure. Still, it felt sweet and gentle. Their lips perfectly locked together and stayed that way for what felt like an eternity. Benny pulled away afterwards, leaving Ethan stunned.

"So?" Benny asked, licking his lips nervously.

"I'm cured," and first the time in their decade of friendship, Ethan had lied. This made it way worse! Now, he was certain. Ethan had fallen for his best friend. 

"Good. I don't ever wanna do that again. Kissing you was like Mario kissing Luigi," Benny said as he looked away and stared at the lowering ground.

"Yeah, totally,"

Ethan stared at the world below him. There were couples holding hands and laughing, people winning games, and even arguments being held. The trees were naked, prickling its room and building a force field around the school. This was how he was supposed to see the world: plain. Instead, those couples were lucky to have each other, those prizes were a reminder of what cannot be, and those trees were in the same predicament that he had just placed himself in. Ethan’s world had now been permanently changed. How would he handle his newfound life?

Happy Valentine's Day to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the ending isn't exactly resolved between Ethan and Benny considering Ethan still likes Benny and won't tell him. I am in the works of writing a Halloween-epic that resolves their relationship. Stay tuned for that! It will be coming out this year on October 1st, and I'll be uploading one chapter a day. 
> 
> However, if you still are unsatisfied with the ending then comment below either telling me to:  
> A.Write another story that resolves it  
> B.Tell you my intentions for the Halloween-epic  
> C.Somehow send you chapters of the Halloween-epic before October
> 
> I know how annoying it can be to wait on a story, so I want to make sure you get the opportunity to feel at ease!
> 
> :)


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